Fading Star
by Settiai
Summary: The Sixth Doctor finds out about Evelyn's heart condition... the hard way.


Evelyn Smythe shook her head in fond exasperation as the Doctor poked his own head around the corner, looked around, and quickly pulled back. "Must you really keep doing that?" she asked with a sigh. "Those men are going to notice you one of these times, and then we'll really be in trouble."

"Be patient, Evelyn," the Doctor said, not even looking over at her. "The guards should change any time now, and we should be able to slip by then. Besides, it's not as if we're in a hurry."

She didn't even try to hide her disbelief at that statement. "Not in a hurry?" she hissed, her tone of voice enough to finally cause the Doctor to glance over at her. "And when they discover that we've managed to escape from our cell?"

His mouth twitched slightly, revealing the barest hint of a smile. "_Then_ we'll be in a hurry."

Muttering a few choice words under her breath, Evelyn leaned back against the wall and watched as the Doctor surreptitiously poked his head around the corner again. It was obvious that he wasn't very worried about their predicament, and she couldn't help but feel a hint of relief at that. Even though she knew, deep down, that he was just as capable of making misjudgments as anyone, it was a rarity compared to most people. As long as he was in good spirits, she was willing to push some of her own worries aside.

As she watched him, Evelyn unconsciously brought her hand up and rubbed at her chest. She had been feeling a slight twinge around her heart ever since they had managed to escape from their cell, and— although she didn't think it was anything serious— she couldn't help but be slightly anxious to get back to the TARDIS and the medication she kept hidden in her room. Her handbag, and the pills that she kept inside of it, had both been confiscated during their arrest.

"You still haven't explained to me how we ended up in this situation," Evelyn said quietly, breaking the silence that had settled between them.

"Hmm?" The Doctor glanced curiously over at her for a moment. "You were there, Evelyn. Surely you heard the charges. It was. . ."

He suddenly stopped talking as the sound of movement started up in the neighboring corridor and quickly turned his attention back toward the guards. "Finally," he muttered. "I was starting to think we'd never get our chance."

Shaking her head, Evelyn pushed away from the wall. "They claimed that you refused to properly compliment the queen," she said slowly. "At least, that's what I believe they said. Their accents really were atrocious."

The Doctor nodded distractedly, his attention focused almost completely on the finally moving guards. "And therein lies the problem."

"I don't follow you, Doctor," she said, making her way over to his side. "It seemed to me that you were very complimentary toward the queen. Much more polite than you typically are."

"I'm going to ignore that last statement," he muttered under his breath.

Evelyn smiled, despite her exasperation. "It's the truth, and you know it," she said lightly. "Now are you going to explain to me why we were locked up or not?"

Although the Doctor wasn't facing her, Evelyn couldn't help but detect a hint of sheepishness in his voice when he finally answered. "It turns out that the Kalunian I complimented wasn't the queen after all."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Really?" she asked. "Who was it then?"

"The king."

Evelyn blinked at that, but before she had a chance to respond, the Doctor suddenly grabbed her by the arm. "Here's our chance," he said, darting out into the hall and pulling her behind him. She was vaguely aware of how empty the hallway seemed without the guards that had been there for the past hour, but then she was too busy focusing on keeping up with the Doctor to let her mind wander.

As they ran, Evelyn heard loud shouts coming from behind them. The corridor they were in was completely empty, but it was apparent that was no longer the case for the ones behind them. "I'm assuming we're in a hurry now?" she managed to gasp, doing her best to feign normalcy despite the growing pain in her chest.

"That would be a safe assumption, yes."

After that, Evelyn didn't have the breath to talk. It was taking all that she had to keep up with the Doctor's pace, and her mind couldn't help but flash back to her heart pills. The first thing she was going to do once she made it back to the TARDIS was to slip off and take them.

And then, suddenly, they made it back to the TARDIS. Evelyn wasn't quite certain how they had made it as quickly as they did, but at that point she wasn't in the mood to question anything. She was definitely feeling worse for the wear, and she was well aware that only part of it was because of their impromptu dash through the Kalunian imperial palace.

The Doctor quickly started patting his pockets, trying to find the key that would unlock the TARDIS. Evelyn stepped off to the side, desperately trying to catch her breath as the yells from behind them steadily increased in volume. "I'd just like to remind you that we _are_ still in a bit of a hurry," she pointed out.

He ignored her, instead focusing his attention on trying to find the key. After a few more seconds, he yanked it out of his pocket and held it up triumphantly. "Aha!"

Evelyn shot him a pointed look, and he quickly turned his focus back onto the door. The moment that the doors unlocked, the Doctor grabbed her by the arm. They both stumbled inside, and he immediately lunged to get the doors shut behind them.

As the doors of the TARDIS whirred closed, they both stood right inside the entrance gasping for breath. At least, Evelyn was gasping for breath. The Doctor was breathing a little heavily, admittedly, but it was obvious that he wasn't nearly as out of breath as her.

After a few seconds had passed, the Doctor turned to Evelyn and grinned. "Nothing like a brisk stroll to get the hearts pumping," he said with a wink. "Isn't that right?"

Evelyn glared back at him, though there was more than a hint of amusement in her eyes. "Brisk stroll," she muttered. "One of these days, Doctor, I swear. . ." She trailed off abruptly, her hand suddenly coming up to clutch at her chest.

The amusement immediately faded from the Doctor's face. "Evelyn?"

Even though she knew that the temperature inside the TARDIS was always rather comfortable, the air around her suddenly felt stifling hot. The dull ache she had felt in her chest earlier was steadily increasing in intensity, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get her lungs to draw in enough air.

"Evelyn?"

She was vaguely aware of the worried tone in the Doctor's voice, but she couldn't quite get her mind to focus on it. The slight twinge in her chest had increased tenfold, turning into an uncomfortable pressure that was achingly familiar. As her legs slipped out from under her, Evelyn clutched at her chest, willing her body to cooperate with her.

"Oh, I'm an old fool," she managed to whisper.

Then everything faded to dark.

----------

As Evelyn slowly drifted back into consciousness, the first thing she was aware of was the sound of someone moving around nearby. She wasn't entirely certain who is was, but she didn't feel worried so she assumed she was safe. After a few seconds, she became aware of a soft beeping sound that was steadily increasing in speed and intensity. Was she in a hospital?

"Evelyn?"

The Doctor. Not a hospital, then, but the infirmary in the TARDIS. Memories came flooding back almost instantly, and Evelyn quickly opened her eyes. Or, at least, that's what she attempted to do. It took her several tries to get them to cooperate, and they seemed unusually heavy as she finally managed to get them open.

The first thing she saw was the Doctor staring down at her, naked relief on his face. It faded almost immediately, though, into an unreadable expression. "Doctor?" she asked weakly.

He smiled at her, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "You're going to be fine," he said, careful to not meet her gaze. "You had a heart attack."

"I remember," she said softly.

The Doctor nodded, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "You should get some rest. I did what I could, but you're probably going to feel weak for awhile."

Evelyn closed her eyes for a moment, gathering up her will before opening them again. "You know," she said simply.

He didn't even attempt to pretend he didn't understand. "That this wasn't your first heart attack?" he asked, finally meeting her gaze. "Yes."

She stared right back at him. "So what now?" she prompted.

"I don't know," he said simply.

Taking a deep breath, Evelyn nodded and let her gaze move away from his. The infirmary slowly slipped into silence, before the Doctor cleared his throat.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Evelyn moved her gaze toward him again. "What?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" he repeated, looking right after her. "If I had known, I would have done things differently. I would have found a different way to escape." His voice was tinged with concern, not accusation.

"If you had known I had a heart condition, you never would have let me travel with you in the first place," she shot back, weakly lifting her hand when he started to protest. "Don't even try to deny it, Doctor. We both know better than that."

He stared at her, the unreadable expression on his face slowly fading into a thoughtful one.

She slowly looked away, not wanting to see his face when she asked her next question. "Will you be taking me home?"

The Doctor reached down and rested his hand on top of hers. "We'll talk about that later," he said, his voice surprisingly gentle. "Who knows what the future holds?"

Evelyn managed a weak chuckle, her eyes twinkling just a bit as she glanced back at him. "I thought you did," she told him. "At least, that's what you keep telling me."

He stared down at her for a moment before slowly starting to smile. "Go to sleep," he said quietly.

As she drifted off to sleep, Evelyn felt the Doctor gently squeeze her hand. She felt herself slowly begin to smile as awareness faded away. Maybe things would work out, and maybe they wouldn't. But for the time being, everything was fine.


End file.
